Phone Reviews

Sony Xperia S

Review

The Xperia S is Sony’s first handset after deciding to take the solo route away from Ericsson, and at glance it’s looking quite spectacular.

Hardware

The Sony Xperia S boasts an impressive 12MP camera, which is more than most handsets offer today, although it only allows 16:9 resolution shooting in 9 megapixels, with a 4:3 ratio being used to capture images in the full 12 megapixels, both methods produce high quality images and a bright LED flash alongside the camera allows us to take decent pictures in darkened spaces.

The pictures come out well, and the camera loads up pretty quickly too, this is a camera that matches that of the 4S. The Xperia S also comes with a 1.3 Megapixel front facing camera.

The Xperia S also comes with a dual core 1.5 GHz processor, and it runs smoothly, along with the 1GB of RAM, you’ll be unlikely to put a stop to its powerful CPU.

The screen is 4.3 inches, and is using Sony’s Bravia technology, the display looks ace, and with a 720x1280 HD resolution, it’d be hard to determine whether this beats Apple’s retinal display technology or not.

Either way, the screen is superb, and we’d be happy to see more of this technology on more handsets.

The size and weight of the device is concerning, at 144g it is heavier than the Galaxy S2 and is a little difficult to hold. The front of the handset looks very pretty, but the back has a big design

flaw, the Xperia curves at the back and it feels a bit chunky when held, and is strangely top heavy, making it quite easy to drop.

Software

The Sony Xperia S comes preloaded with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, which again is a little disappointing, but Sony have said we’ll get an update later in the year.

The layout and design of the Xperia’s user interface is simple and easy to navigate, perhaps missing a few features like quick access to power control features and space to place favorite apps, but I quite liked the bare stripped down feeling the Xperia S gave.

There are a few live widgets to be used on the device, and they work surprisingly well alongside the processing power the Xperia holds. Live widgets include social app integration, and quick access to music players or the PlayStation store, straight on your home screen.

The home screen only offers 5 home screens to fill with apps and widgets, which may not be enough for some, but the beauty of Android allows us to download different launchers for an experience best suited for us.

The Sony Xperia S is in the same price range as the popular and very successful Galaxy S2, and specification wise the Xperia S has a lot to brag about.

Contracts

The Sony Xperia S is availiable on 173 contracts.

Listed below are the 5 cheapest contracts ordered by monthly price (use our Contract Finder to compare contracts and find a contract that suits you at the cheapest possible price):